Updated on: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
In a major initiative to provide quality education to children living in remote areas, the government will encourage development of 2,500 model schools and 3,000 industrial training institutes (ITIs) in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia met industry representatives to gauge their response to this programme.
Industry leaders including ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd Chairman R C Bhargava, Chairman and representatives from Tata Group, Reliance Capital and other firms attended the meeting convened at Yojana Bhawan here.
Deliberating on the issue, Sibal said the need for new schools is pressing and with financial constraints, it would not be possible for government to set up the required number of schools in immediate future.
The minister said private sector would be welcomed to join government in delivering the social responsibility.
Sibal also assured that the government would give the required autonomy to private sector for running these mode
schools.
The 12th Plan will have a lot of emphasis on the development of social sector, he said, adding that the children from underprivileged families were unable to access private sector institutions because of high fees.
Briefing the corporate representatives on the details of the twin schemes, the Commission pointed out that the two schemes would be launched shortly by the ministries of human resource development and labour.
The government would replicate the scheme in more districts after ascertaining the effectiveness of the programme.
The initiative in the first phase would involve setting up of 2,500 model schools to create capacity for quality education for about 40 lakh children.
The model schools would be enrolling 25 lakh select students from under-privileged category and the central government would pay fee of these students at the rate being charged by Kendriya Vidyalayas.
The central government would provide support for ten years which would include infrastructure support at the rate of 25 per cent of recurring monthly support per student per month, provided it does not exceed an amount equal to ten per cent of capital investment.
The government support would be provided only if the number of select students is not less than 40 per cent of the total strength in the school.
The other scheme involving PPP mode in vocational training would aim at setting up of 3,000 industrial training institutes through PPP mode.
In the first phase only 1,500 such institutes would be set up. It would create centers of excellence in vocational training for about 30 lakh youth including 15 lakh select trainees from socially and economically disadvantaged section.
He proposed framework would cover all blocks, which are not serviced by government supported ITIs.